Even as Sonia Gandhi is sworn in prime minister on May 19, Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy will attempt to convince the Delhi high court that Gandhi and her sister have smuggled Indian artifacts out of the country.

Swamy, who blames the Bharatiya Janata Party for his failures thus far to "expose" Gandhi, says the Central Bureau of Investigation never probed the case fairly.

The case, filed in 2001, alleges that the CBI stopped investigating the smuggling of Indian artifacts into Italy after its First Information Report named Sonia Gandhi's mother and sister.

The CBI, which claims to have not been able to determine the ownership of the shops allegedly owned by Gandhi's Italian family, reportedly failed to find any evidence to back Swamy's allegations.

The high court asked the CBI to seek Interpol's help but, says Swamy, the CBI submitted an incomplete Interpol report.

Swamy told the court that the BJP is hand-in-glove with Gandhi in this instance.

In a May 15 letter to President A P J Abdul Kalam, Swamy pointed out that Italy does not allow a naturalised citizen to become prime minister of that country. Given the reciprocity clause in Section 5 of the Indian Citizenship Act, Sonia Gandhi should likewise not have the right to become prime minister of India, he argued.

Swamy says he requested Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, May 2, for a Government Order that would ban Sonia Gandhi from accepting high political office, but the request was not acted on.

The Janata leader says there is at least one judgment of the Allahabad high court that holds no Government Order is required.

President Kalam, after going over the matter with experts, declined to act on Swamy's suggestions contained in his letter, and invited Gandhi to head the government.